Chai, Chai

This is the title of a book about unsung Railway junctions like Itarsi, Guntakal, Jolarpet, Shoranur, Jhansi, and my favourite (though not in this book)-Dornakal. The author travels to and stays in, and discovers what makes these small towns click, and how whole towns came to be built around the railway junction. Dornakal is where we had to change trains in early childhood to go anywhere from Kothagudem in Andhra Pradesh, my birthplace and early abode. Between the two points, we had mystically named towns such as Chimalpahad, Tadkalpudi and Bethampudi.

For example, a Muslim Saint's memorial built by Reddys in Guntakal, or the peaceful evening walks in the same town, the noisy streets of North India, special foods available everywhere, common people and their life stories, the reason Itarsi got its name (after It and rassi- bricks and rope- which were made there), and many other imponderables are nicely dealt with in a low profile, engaging style that reminded me of Bill Bryson, though Biswanath Ghosh is not as funny as him.

For anyone who has travelled on the railways for any length of time, it's a great read.